Holt and Calderwood — Report on the Rarer Fishes. 463 



Sub-genus Macrurus. 



Macrurus aequalis, Giinther. (Deep-sea.) 



(PI. XL., figs. 1, la.) 



Macrurus wqualis, . . . Gunther, "Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1878, vol. 



ii., p. 25. 



„ „ ... Gunther, " Challenger," vol. xxii., p. 134, pi. xxxii. 



„ ,, ... Holt, "Proc. Roy. Dub. Soc," vol. vii., p. 122. 



Macrurus smiliophorus* . . Vaillant, " Exp. Sci. Trav. Talis. Poiss.," p. 242. 



Remarks on the Synonymy. — Dr. Gunther, in the " Challenger " Memoir, 

 includes Macrourus serratus, Lowe, as a doubtful synonym of M. cequalis, and 

 remarks tliat, the type being lost, it is doubtful whether Lowe's species is identical 

 with M. cequalis or with one of the closely allied species of the sub-genus 

 Macrurus. Lowe, however, distinctly described the scales in M. serratus as 

 smooth, with radial striations,t a feature which should distinguish the species 

 readily enough from any of the forms suggested by Dr. Gunther. The re- 

 discovery, in the Mediterranean, of M. serratus by Dr. Giglioli J sets the matter at 

 rest, as, in a courteous letter in answer to our inquiries, the Italian observer 

 informs us that his specimens agree in all important particulars with Lowe's 

 description. The scales are smooth, with slight radial striations, and the outer 

 pelvic ray is produced into a long filament which reaches the twenty-third anal 

 ray. Moreover, the mouth is sub -terminal and very wide, and Dr. Giglioli places 

 the species in the genus (or sub-genus) Coryphsenoides. 



Diagnosis of Species. (D. 10— 13;§ Pelv. 8-9.) — Snout conically projecting 

 beyond the mouth, with rather obtuse and rough upper edge. The cleft of the 

 mouth extends nearly to below the centre of the eye in large examples ; further 

 back, the anterior profile being also more oblique, in younger stages. Teeth of 



* In the Appendix, p. 386, the author acknowledges the identity of his species, M. smiliophorus, with 

 M. mqualis, GUnther, and refers the specimens described by himself under the latter name to a new species, 

 M. sublcevis. 



t "Proc. Zool. Soo. Lond.," 1843, p. 91. 



X "Nature," vol. xxv., p. 535. 



§ These numbers may be reduced by one, if the very short anterior spine is omitted from the 

 calculation. 



